After you first set up your database, it does not contain any email addresses. Transact adds the addresses after an email is sent. This database must be set up in Acoustic Campaign and created in a shared folder, the folder that allows others in your organization access to the database. If you decide to create your database in a private folder first, you can move the database to the shared folder before you attach it to an email template.

This new database is not a permanent collection of contact data. The database updates with information such as contact email addresses, opt-in dates, and other system-generated fields. The XML file that is sent to Acoustic Campaign updates the contact information columns in the XML Submit document that is marked as SAVE COLUMN. Contact detail remains for 60 days but is available in aggregate reports beyond that time frame. You can save data to the database and not use it in the template. Alternatively, the fields must exist in the database but not the template.

Database fields in Transact

Database fields store valuable information about your contacts, such as customer email address, postal code, or account number. They can also store data (not used in the message) submitted in the XML Submit document. Acoustic Campaign uses two types of database fields: system-generated and custom.

System-generated database fields

When you create a Shared database in Acoustic Campaign, your database already contains system-generated field types. They appear first in the database in the List Fields table. Acoustic Campaign requires that you enter system field types.

Note: You cannot change the system field types after you save the database.

Required fields

The SPOP field is the primary key (Unique Identifier) for a transaction email. The other system fields are not required in the XML Submit document, but are needed by Acoustic Campaign.

Custom database fields

You create custom database fields based on your organization's needs, such as First_Name, Last_Name, LAST_PURCHASE_DATE, or CUSTOMER_ID. You can create up to 400® fields by using any combination of field types. However, you must add the SPOP field to your database for Transact to work properly. You do not need to add data to this field. Acoustic Campaign uses the SPOP field to identify the database as a restricted Transact database.

After you add the SPOP field, you can add custom fields for personalization in your emails and fields for information that you want to store in your database.
Note You must identify SPOP as the Unique Identifier when you are setting up your database. Don't identify the email field as the UID. You can add fields to a database associated with an Automated Message at any time. But you must add the new fields before you submit XML with tags for that field.

SPOP appears with a key beside it in the list of fields. The key indicates that this is a restricted database. A restricted database is recommended.
Note A default value is not necessary for this field, or any other field in this database.

Seed Lists

You can also attach a seedlist to your database so you are able to send a copy of all of the emails to members in your see list. You can enable the seedlist from the Settings button on the Database Summary page.

Send Transact messages from one or more domains

Beginning with the Fall 2014 release, users who support multiple brands and domains can manage and send all of their Transact messages from one Transact organization, regardless of the number of domains.

The domains that are provisioned for an organization are located in the Domain settings section on the Organization Settings page (Organization Administrators can view this information).

If you want to send Transact messages from multiple domains in the same organization, you must assign the correct domain to the appropriate database.

Acoustic Campaign sends the Transact message from the domain that is specified on the database that is assigned to the Transact Automated Message Group (also known as Transact Campaign). If a domain is not specified on the database, then Acoustic Campaign sends the message from the Organization Default domain, which is specified in Domain Settings.

Limitations for Transact email templates

Keep in mind the following limitations when you add content to transactional emails:

• Multiple body types (MIME format) are not sent. Only the body type that is designated in the XML Submit document is sent.
• If you want to send text emails and HTML emails, you must create separate email templates and separate automated messages for the different types of emails. However, you can use the same database for either email type.
• To compose by using HTML, you can paste the HTML code into the form, or you can upload a file from your computer (click the Import HTML button). You can also include links in the form, if they are in proper HTML format.
• You can add links in the XML CDATA code. When you click Save, the links are converted to a Transact-compatible link. To edit the link, click the Hyperlinks tab to display the form for editing.
• You cannot use social network share data.
• You cannot use relational table data.

Dynamic Content

To permit dynamic change in the content, place the message content in the XML Submit document CDATA.

For standardized messages, put the message in the template and create multiple templates with multiple messages.

Personalization

You can add Personalization tags from the fields that are created in your database. However, you can also personalize your email template without having those fields in your database, by adding Personalization tags to the body of an email template. They correspond to Personalization tags defined in the database fields in Acoustic Campaign or in the Transact XML Submit document.

Personalization in the XML Submit Document

You can also pass the content for Personalization tags in the XML Submit document. However, you must include the content as fields in the template if you use them to substitute values from XML tags. In addition, if you want to save the values for these fields, you must also include them in the database fields.

In the example below, the user defined the personalization tag %%WORLDAIR_CONFIRMATION_BODY%%

The personalization tag is the only content in this email template. The content for the tag is passed in the XML Submit document in the TAG_NAME / VALUE element as HTML in a CDATA section. The HTML can include the entire email body. Information in the submitted XML document must correspond to the template field (personalization) tags, which are shown in the following XML Submit document example:

<XTMAILING>
<RECIPIENT>
 <EMAIL>somebody@anotherdomain.com</EMAIL>
 <BODY_TYPE>HTML</BODY_TYPE>
 <PERSONALIZATION>
 <TAG_NAME>World_Air_Confirmation_Body</TAG_NAME>
 <VALUE><![CDATA[This is the <b>body</b> of the email.]]></VALUE>
 </PERSONALIZATION>
 </RECIPIENT>
 </XTMAILING>

Settings for Tracking

Tracking determines how the email is tracked and reported in email Reports. Unique tracking is the most common type of tracking selected. It is the default setting for an email and provides detailed reporting for all contacts. For more information, see Dynamic Link Leader (DLL) Encoding.